Anyone know about this company? I had a rep come by my house this morning but I have a busy day so I told him to come back Wednesday. He briefly talked about what they do and explained it’s all cellular so you don’t need a phone line. They also have some kind of Nest like thermostat you can control that they just throw in if you sign a contract (I’m guessing about the contract since the thermostat has to have some considerable cost to it).

I don’t think he’s gonna have to do much convincing, I just need to find out about pricing. I know they have some kind of $199 activation fee and the most expensive monthly fee is $79. I think it has 1 camera, home security, thermostat control and lock/unlock control over 1 deadbolt. Oh, and you can turn on 1 light too I think on/off. Not too bad to be able to do that from your phone too.

I just gotta figure out what equipment is “required” and how much the up front cost will be. I figure the $79 isn’t bad when you consider it could potentially lower your electric bill anywhere from $10-50, if not even more.

I was a sales rep for vivint last year, equipment and features it adds to your home are definitely worth it (not biased towards any company ADT has a very similar package, but is much more expensive). The android controls are top notch as long as you have a fast enough home internet system. The way your system would get installed is entirely up to you since your activation fee will determine how much equipment the rep will be able/willing to offer and the monthly package you want is definitely the 79 if you want the lock/camera, or 69 if you dont care for those. The energy savings are for sure legit, but vary depending on your area, heating/cooling system, and use. You will want to go to home depot and get other z-wave light switches and stuff to add onto your system though since you’ll want to automate everything once you see how easy it is to use. Hit me up with a reply on here if you have questions, and i want to hear how it goes :D

I can view the cameras on my phone, disarm/arm the system from the phone (and computer), have the camera record on a schedule, or by motion, or whenever I want basically. Thermostat can be programmed through the unit itself or the computer. You can also manually control it with your phone. Basically everything can be controlled by the phone or computer, it’s pretty sweet.

The Go Control Panel uses a cellular signal so you don’t need a phone line. They even gave me a little solar powered light for the sign to put outside.

You can get Z wave light switches at the Home Depot and other places, so I’ll probably be adding more stuff for my control panel to be able to, well, control. This service is pretty awesome, and if you have any kids it’s definitely worth getting.

I think there are going to be positives and negatives with any company. Some will have good and bad experiences. I live in Utah and that is where they are headquartered. People I talk to love Vivint. I think you have to see if makes sense for you. 144 reports of over 500,000 is not bad. I am not saying they shouldn’t treat these customers all the same, but maybe they treat people better here since we could walk down to their headquarters anytime to handle any issues that may come up.

I signed up with Vivint 1.5 years ago when somebody came to our door in Airdrie Alberta (near Calgary, Alberta, Canada). The system works great, customer service seems to be top notch the couple of times we’ve needed to talk to them (false alarms — our fault not theirs). I highly recommend it if you like the idea of home automation and can afford a monthly fee for security. I don’t know if the Vivint system is completely compatible with all Z-Wave controls you can buy though so you might want to do some research before picking up more at Home Depot (unless you also have another ZWave controller like the MiCasa Verde to use as well). We have our camera set up to trigger on motion and pointed at our front door…if anybody comes to the house when we’re away we not only know, but can see who and when.

I sat down with a rep and asked a lot of questions then hit the web. The technology they use (Z-wave) is not new, unique, but still pretty interesting. (Low power RF, think 900Mhz spectrum). I ended up not buying in but I am looking to put together a security system based on Z-wave. I found a lot of manufactures that build Z-wave control models. The only big thing they have going for them is a decent Android and iPhone app to control all the modules. The downside is their contract is forever long.

If you DIY inclined you can setup a Pay as you go phone to function the same way they setup. You can communicate with Fire/Police/and EMP and work as an intercom. I going to use my old Sony Xperia X10 as the phone piece.

I am quadriplegic and will be getting some home automation set up soon. I’ll be using Elve software http://www.codecoretechnologies.com/content/MainPage.ashx to control z-wave outlets, dimmers, thermostat, deadbolt. I will then be able to control all z-wave devices from my computer or Nexus 7. If you don’t want to spend $99 on software openremote.org is a free open source program that has added z-wave support. Openremote will require more back end user work to get running, but that is the trade off for being free. I have not used openremote’s z-wave functions, but am currently using it’s android app to control an IR blaster to operate my TV components.

Are there any other cameras that will work with the Vivint System? We just purchased the system. I have no problems with the cost or the contract (ask me about that 2 years from now)..but so far, I kept saying I was going to get something but this was the cheapest and they installed. However, I do want an extra camera but I don’t necessarily want to purchase it from Vivint.